AUTO TRANSCRIPTION. PLEASE FORGIVE TYPOS

00;00;01;01 – 00;00;22;15
Jim Serpico
The following episode of Bread for the People is brought to you by side Hustle Bread, Long Island’s handcrafted artisanal bread company. Side Hustle Bread is a family run virtual bakery that’s bringing the neighborhood feel back to Long Island one loaf at a time. Head on over to side, hustle Broadcom for more information, upcoming appearances and merchandise. My name’s Jim Serpico and this.

00;00;22;27 – 00;00;36;00
Jim Serpico
Should I start with my name or should I start with This is Bread for the People. Do you like it like this? Welcome to bread. What do you like it? Like this? Welcome. Very welcome to Bread for the People mind. Is there a script.

00;00;43;01 – 00;00;45;21
Jim Serpico
For the people?

00;00;48;12 – 00;01;00;25
Jim Serpico
Welcome to Bread for the People. I’m Jim Serpico. My next guest is a director, host, blogger and an influencer. He is the founder of Brunch Boys. Jeremy Jacoby Waits. Welcome to Bread for the People.

00;01;01;17 – 00;01;03;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Hi. Happy to be here.

00;01;03;24 – 00;01;31;09
Jim Serpico
Amen. It’s really a pleasure to have you on the show. I know a little bit about your background as a film producer working in sports, and you’re a filmmaker. You know, if we cut back for me, between five and ten years ago, I was directing some scripted television on soundstages in New York. COVID happens, something shifts in my life.

00;01;31;09 – 00;01;52;04
Jim Serpico
I start baking bread, semiprofessional early, and here I am talking about food, doing a podcast, food related, Hollywood related. Where were you five, ten, 15 years ago or even before? Did you always know that this is where you’re going to end up? Not that this is it for you, Ben. I know you got a lot going on.

00;01;53;04 – 00;02;13;07
Jeremy Jacobowitz
No, I mean, I was not smart enough to understand any of this happening. I mean, I studied sports management at NYU, so I guess we could start there. I mean, and that was 15 years ago. Or, you know, whatever it is, I’m 35 now, so I worked in sports TV for a while. I worked at SMI, which is Mets, and I worked for WCBS, worked at WWE.

00;02;13;23 – 00;02;26;20
Jeremy Jacobowitz
This is all right after college. AM. Yeah, the goals the goal was app. And then I realized that maybe sports TV isn’t the place to be. They just weren’t that many options to work. This is years ago. There were all these little outlets weren’t even all these cable channels. Whatever.

00;02;27;04 – 00;02;44;03
Jim Serpico
Do you mind if I hold up right here? Yeah, we have. We have a lot of young, young people who listen to this show that are in film schools or maybe sports management. You know, what were those first jobs like when you say you worked at those places? It sounds very romantic because of those. Those are some fancy names.

00;02;45;08 – 00;03;06;17
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, it was and it was I mean, also when I say I worked, I mean, SMI. SMI was an internship, so I certainly wasn’t paid. And that was an opportunity where I was there for a year and a half. And they really let me do everything started just in newsroom, logging, getting coffee, whatever needs to happen, and then just sort of slowly, slowly, slowly, like asking for opportunities and being lucky enough to be given this opportunity.

00;03;06;17 – 00;03;26;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So was in the NEWSROOM for a year and a half out in the fields doing a lot. There was a lot of circumstances that just ended up. They had positions they need to fill, but they needed to find those people. So in the meantime, they gave me those opportunities to go to locker rooms, interview the athletes, to be on the ground doing stuff which most interns do not have the opportunity to do.

00;03;26;10 – 00;03;44;06
Jeremy Jacobowitz
But then, because it is such a good job there too, they let me go to corporate. So then I interned in the scheduling department and assisting by the executive producers whatever I could get my hands on too, which is all about experience and getting knowledge and networking and getting connections out. And then obviously, you know, everything leads to lessons.

00;03;44;06 – 00;03;55;27
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And so so that was it. I mean, I absolutely loved it. Did it work? Was I in school then going there and working at the same time? Yeah, but I’m someone that loves work, so I just dug into it.

00;03;56;16 – 00;04;08;03
Jim Serpico
Yeah, that’s a great opportunity. If you’re lucky enough to fall into an internship that gives you that kind of leash and trust you with that kind of responsibility. It’s a golden ticket.

00;04;09;05 – 00;04;26;03
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I would say, like, take advantage of every opportunity. I mean, that’s why I wanted to go to NYU. I’m from. I was born in Brooklyn and grew up, so I’ve always lived around here. Anyway, so I didn’t really want to go that far, but also someone that didn’t really want to go to college, to be honest.

00;04;26;03 – 00;04;43;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Like I wanted to go to college because that’s what you do. But I didn’t really want the college experience. So when I when I had the opportunity to get into NYU, it sort of made the most sense to me were one, I get to be close, I got to be New York City, and maybe I don’t want this college experience, which, you know, necessarily get NYU.

00;04;43;10 – 00;04;51;24
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I’m going to take advantage of fact that I’m here and I could be working and interning the entire time, which, you know, you have all of New York City, too. So it was a huge part of why why I wanted to go there.

00;04;52;08 – 00;05;13;04
Jim Serpico
Yeah, I had a lot of interns when I had my office in the city for 30 years. We had a lot of NY U students come through and they were always amazing. They did somewhat complain about the college, but I guess there is a lack of college atmosphere here in a way, because you get absorbed in the city, right?

00;05;13;09 – 00;05;28;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It’s like there’s no college atmosphere. I mean, I always tell people like, yeah, technically I went to NYU to go to college, but it was more of that. Like I was living in the city, taking classes at NYU, then really going to school there. But that’s what I loved. I was more than happy with that. But yes, you always have to.

00;05;28;24 – 00;05;32;03
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I was just like, know that before you go there.

00;05;33;01 – 00;05;49;02
Jim Serpico
Yeah, I think going into show business, whatever end of it is like you ultimately and ideally at a very young age end up in New York or L.A. primarily to start and be willing to work for free. I mean, that is the best way in and make this you.

00;05;49;02 – 00;06;02;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Know, I know that, like nowadays it’s not like a fun thing to say, but honestly, I don’t know, because here’s my thing. If you want to be the person that doesn’t want to do that, there’s going to be someone else that will. And that’s that’s just what it is. So like, you know, I did sports TV for a while.

00;06;02;24 – 00;06;25;10
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I worked at CBS Sports, at WWE. And then but I wanted to do something else. I just started. I went backwards. I was feel producing and doing those other stuff, and I was like, okay, if I can start over in another reality TV world leaving really news, then me just finds opportunity and went going backwards of again interning when I had to intern taking small little gigs and that kind of PR work.

00;06;25;10 – 00;06;43;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
When you’re going back to that sort of TV like isn’t being the locker rooms and having trans athletes. It’s like driving trucks especially. Is dude like you’re driving trucks entertaining at the trash and you’re carrying things that people don’t want to carry. You know, it’s a humbling experience. But again, it’s just like I’m looking for this opportunities. I’m looking for that way to showcase who I am, what can I do?

00;06;43;21 – 00;06;44;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Because it’s only so much.

00;06;44;26 – 00;07;03;07
Jim Serpico
As any good show, any good stories. I know guys that would drive trucks and go to the front of the van. We’re talking about 15 past vans full of equipment that you would pick up at the rental houses. They’d go to the front, the back doors open, and the fucking equipment’s gone, you know, like, it’s not funny, man.

00;07;03;07 – 00;07;20;11
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Scares the hell out. Well, one time what I did was I made a I picked up all the gear for our shoot the day before Asia, you know, make the runs, get the truck, leave it in the garage overnight. Come get it, Bring the set the next morning. It’s like one of my first gigs ever. So I go in the garage the next morning, get the truck, and I had dropped it off.

00;07;20;11 – 00;07;33;28
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Oh, I’d left the other to drop off the truck that night. I went home. Whatever I was going to pick up one morning and I run into the garage and I’m just like, I see the truck. I’m like, That’s the truck. I’m just going to grab shoes. They’re taking too long with that struggling. So if I can take it, What to get out here?

00;07;33;28 – 00;07;54;08
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It’s all good. So hop in the truck, which is the same rental place we got the truck from. And I’m driving a few blocks and I’m just like, something feels off. I’m like, something feels off about this. And I pull over. I open up the back door and it’s a totally other truck. I took someone else’s production truck and left ours.

00;07;54;08 – 00;07;55;13
Jim Serpico
I never heard this one.

00;07;55;25 – 00;08;08;15
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And I was like, and I was like And I was like, Holy shit. Because first of all, the garage people shouldn’t have just let me take the truck. I just did it. I just ran and took it. So I drove back. I think I was five blocks away because you imagine if I’d show up to set with the wrong shop.

00;08;08;15 – 00;08;18;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I just. I just screwed Shubert that entire day. I’m two productions. B, I got back there, ran into Mike. I took the wrong truck. This never fucking happens. I’m taking that truck. Get the hell out of here. Right?

00;08;19;09 – 00;08;40;06
Jim Serpico
Yeah, that’s a good one. But that’s the life of a PR man. And it’s long days, right? First one and last one out. But you know what? You’re young and you’re loving it. It’s you hanging out with some cool people, like minded people. You’re seeing it get done from the ground up. That’s the way to start. I really, really think.

00;08;40;06 – 00;08;45;19
Jeremy Jacobowitz
That’s the way the all the way to start. I mean, I don’t know how you start the other way, you know? Yeah.

00;08;46;16 – 00;09;15;11
Jim Serpico
Yeah. I mean, my my path was a little different through management, you know, and representing talent and then getting involved in their productions. And then I got my set experience when some of those productions actually happened. And ultimately we all like, get the same information, you know, by being around those sets. Yes. So, so after that. But when you’re on set, there’s a lot of skilled laborers on set, right?

00;09;15;24 – 00;09;22;25
Jim Serpico
And a PA is kind of assisting everyone and doing these errands and moving trucks around. Did you kind of slide into a certain direction?

00;09;23;26 – 00;09;40;29
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, at that point, I really I wanted to be a producer. I wanted to be on the creative and the thing. So at least I knew that. So, you know, a lot of it, I always say I wish I had more interest in other things back then, just like no, because now I have so many interest in cameras and lighting and and audio because I have to do it myself and I just like to teach myself.

00;09;40;29 – 00;09;54;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And once I started teaching myself how to do all that, I fell in love with that side of it. I wish I had more of a passion while I was in TV to understand that I is just like, cool, carry a camera and then let me go find the producer because like, that’s what I want to do. So it was mostly that and then ends up working of talent a lot.

00;09;55;07 – 00;10;16;13
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I was good at it. I found the CPA. It was the easiest gig I could get, and I think talent really liked me because generally on set, if you’re going to be a good talent, it means that you’re trying to work on like the A-Team. But so talent was used to talent plays that were like yells and that time and you have 15 minutes like try to, like, assert themselves so they could like getting good at the ad and like, have them move that way.

00;10;16;20 – 00;10;35;24
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I don’t want to do that. I wanted to I want to produce. So I was very much like on the talent side, obviously there’s a middle ground, so you don’t want anyone mad at you. But I was very much a talent, Talent. Pierre And they loved working with them. Being a talent allowed me to also then be in all the meetings, all the producers be around all the producers, because I was the go between between everybody in the talent.

00;10;36;03 – 00;10;46;16
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So then that that led me down that path. Specifically, I was I was Bobby Flay’s P.A. on a lot of shows with him. So that’s how I really got into the food hall too, and ends up working on mostly food shows for a while.

00;10;47;07 – 00;10;51;29
Jim Serpico
Wow. So that’s how you ended up. You were doing primarily sports right before that?

00;10;52;18 – 00;11;14;07
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah, I went from sports. And then just like, totally less sports. I just I just didn’t see a place for me. I worked a bunch of places and there just wasn’t opportunities. And then I was like, Let me just see what else is out there. And very quickly fell into food. TV And while I did a couple other little things, it was predominantly food TV from being a pay to top year to producer for, you know, maybe five years.

00;11;15;01 – 00;11;15;28
Jim Serpico
On same show.

00;11;16;21 – 00;11;26;04
Jeremy Jacobowitz
No, no, no. I was always freelance. So. So jumping around a lot of Food Network stuff, a lot of Bobby Flay stuff, travel, trying to cook, cooking channel, FBI every couple of months, a different show.

00;11;26;27 – 00;11;36;25
Jim Serpico
Got it. And then those are very different than the shows I worked on. Right? You guys were like a running gun team of 12 or less.

00;11;37;19 – 00;12;01;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It’s been like I did do studio shows, but even those studio shows are still so different than scripted. I mean, we on those shows, the crew could be 100, but we’re talking a culinary team of 30. We’re talking, you know, 12 cameras, you know, five camera assistants, 12 producers. And just like it’s a reality, you know, So it’s like we just go we got all 12 cameras going to one, so we just go.

00;12;01;21 – 00;12;17;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
There’s no like, yeah, we’ll do pick up, pick up, you know, here and there. But it’s a competition show, so you can’t really fake that Much of it has to be as legitimate as possible. So it’s sort of just roll those cameras and help shape the creative a little bit as much as you can and fix it and post if you have to.

00;12;17;21 – 00;12;29;22
Jeremy Jacobowitz
But very different than scripted. But when we’re in the field, yes. When our field, those shows would be, yeah, crew of like six or seven or a couple local plays or whatever. And we’re in restaurants all over the country.

00;12;30;22 – 00;12;50;03
Jim Serpico
I saw we have a mutual friend. I don’t know how well you know Peter Fakler, I don’t know if he was ever on some of the shoots you were on, but Peter is a great DP and shooter and I have done a lot of work with Peter and he’s one of those guys. If you go going in the trenches on one of these small running gun things that you want with you.

00;12;51;04 – 00;12;57;29
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yes, he was. I mean, I get everything confused. I think we did a few shows together. Definitely some travel stuff. Duffy, some studio stuff. Yeah, he was great.

00;12;58;16 – 00;13;16;07
Jim Serpico
You know, And working on those small crew sizes is great if you don’t know a ton about camera and you have an interest on it, you could go up to Peter and he’s going to show you and he’s going to show you the gear, He’s going to talk you through it or be willing to come over your house on the weekend.

00;13;16;07 – 00;13;41;16
Jim Serpico
I mean, I like you didn’t have any of that experience. I didn’t study film and I found myself in it in the middle of the world. And I did train myself. I never edited any of the the big shows I did. But I did learn and teach myself, you know, editing programs and shooting. And by my own cameras that do the stuff I’m doing now, which it’s different than very different than what you’re doing.

00;13;41;16 – 00;13;53;06
Jim Serpico
I’m intrigued by what you’re doing. I’m primarily selling my bread through my unique channel and my sense of humor. But I shoot all my own stuff. You know, it’s interesting.

00;13;53;06 – 00;14;09;16
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I do. I mean, that’s how I got into it. Like when I’ve always produced stuff online. But I was in TV or I was in college, I was in high school, maybe not online, but I produced around content, I guess, and I never thought about that being a goal because that’s not how you made money. There are no influencers and only money that way.

00;14;09;16 – 00;14;28;04
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So there’s always just passion projects and just let me have fun being creative and it sort of accidentally ended up in influencer because people started paying me. I had an audience and people wanted to give me money and then very quickly I made more money on the Internet than I did in TV. And it sort of didn’t make sense to continue in TV.

00;14;28;04 – 00;14;39;08
Jeremy Jacobowitz
That was it. I mean, that was the moment. It was like, what do you do? Things like literally and people wrote me a check and I’m like, Holy shit, this is so much more money that I make in TV and I get to do what I love in TV or just go to restaurants and be and tell these stories.

00;14;39;08 – 00;14;58;05
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Above all, while like I get to do all that fun stuff still, but I get paid more and obviously having pretty much full creative control is really cool. But at the same time, I, you know, go from being a producer where I’m on I’m on that show, I have an amazing crew of all these talented people. I’m just sort of here’s my vision, here’s the creative.

00;14;58;13 – 00;15;13;20
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Let’s make that happen. Hey, you shoot this, hey, audio, this, you know, whatever. But when I had to do it on my own, I had to learn how to do all those things. And that’s sort of where that passion came from. Like, Oh, actually, you’re really off camera. So I actually do really love editing, though. I really do love all sides of this and that.

00;15;13;21 – 00;15;20;09
Jeremy Jacobowitz
That’s actually it’s growing and growing and growing and growing as I’ve got deeper and deeper into this. But it’s been full time for like eight years.

00;15;20;20 – 00;15;42;07
Jim Serpico
Wow. Now I want to get into that and I think we should start with letting the audience know, in your words, what is Brunch Boys? Which is a plural, right? So. So talk to me. I mean, it seems to me that you have a number of social channels. You have well over half million followers. Between all those followers, it’s way more than that.

00;15;42;07 – 00;15;45;10
Jim Serpico
Tell us what the mission of Brunch Boys is.

00;15;46;06 – 00;16;02;20
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah, I mean, it it changes, obviously, like sort of reasons for our brunch of is because I was just supposed to be an online show I was doing and I was like, Oh, oh, this online show is about brunch time. Fine, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then, like, with everything, I always say that like, have a goal and have a vision, but be flexible on what happens.

00;16;02;20 – 00;16;19;07
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I think if you’re too rigid, especially on social media, you’re going to fail. You have to sort of like listen to the audience and listen to what the social media platforms are telling you. You know, you’re you’re at the will of of of them, you know, so where it started with this original YouTube show, but then the Instagram took all the photos and it was a lot of photos.

00;16;19;07 – 00;16;37;18
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And then Instagram had more videos called music videos. And then Tik-Tok came along and now they’re like a lot more in-depth videos and different things and it’s always just going on. But at the end of the day, I always say like, it’s my food adventure is around the world. I think it’s like the easiest way to sum it up for dominantly me going to restaurants, eating, traveling and stuff.

00;16;37;18 – 00;16;59;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It ends up being, I think, the biggest change too, from when I started to now. It’s just social media so much more personal. Like when I started it more than eight years ago, ten years, whatever it was like the only successful food things you saw were very like branded things. Like the first food Instagram I ever saw was probably infatuation, and they obviously are a brands and totally brand then and brand now, a bigger brand now.

00;17;00;08 – 00;17;17;24
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So I was sort of like what you thought you needed to be more. Then social media came more personal in person first, especially as the rise of influencers and like that’s truly where the value is, the values in your voice and nothing else beyond that. So what is my thing? Food Ventures. It’s it’s me. I post whatever the hell I want to post about and sometimes it gets into trouble.

00;17;17;24 – 00;17;22;22
Jeremy Jacobowitz
But, you know, that’s okay. That’s the beauty of social media and not being TV. I don’t care.

00;17;23;10 – 00;17;27;16
Jim Serpico
What kind of trouble have you gotten into? I haven’t heard any. Well, you know.

00;17;27;23 – 00;17;40;28
Jeremy Jacobowitz
You know when it’s enough, you know, when you say something, you talk about political things. People are all mad at you about political and dating. Yeah, exactly. Both things trigger for people.

00;17;40;28 – 00;17;43;26
Jim Serpico
So you you go there. How you go there with the politics?

00;17;44;04 – 00;18;03;15
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I don’t I mean, I think it’s twofold. I think that one, it’s something that I’m very passionate about. I think that the beauty of my social media is like, it’s a share what I’m passionate about. And honestly, when people tell me to stick to food, which they tell me all the time when I say political things, I’m like, you know, it’s funny that you say that because I actually think I’m more informed about politics and more about food.

00;18;04;02 – 00;18;25;29
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I love food, I love eating. I have a good time eating it. I good enough at describing it and then having the fun with that. But I don’t think I wouldn’t even cast myself as like a food nerd. I think, like, I can’t break down a dish for you. I can’t tell you exactly what’s in this. I’m. I’m interested in it and I love it and I love it, but I’m not that, like, micro with it.

00;18;25;29 – 00;18;45;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I guess we’re like when it’s thinking of politics and like, Oh, I actually know more about that. So it’s very funny that you’re telling me to stick to fucking food, which is, you know, something I know less about. And then the the animals. Yeah. And I think just like again, it’s, it’s my voice. And the second your audience thinks that you’re being fake in any way, I think they turn against you.

00;18;45;23 – 00;18;49;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So if you don’t if you don’t want to talk politics, don’t talk about politics. But I think if they.

00;18;50;12 – 00;18;50;14
Jim Serpico
Do.

00;18;50;15 – 00;18;52;29
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Have something to say, then, you know, take advantage. Who cares?

00;18;53;11 – 00;19;23;25
Jim Serpico
I’m actually a political junkie myself, but I the only way I use it on social media is if and I try to deliver a tone that’s quirky and funny. Right. So I’m I’m a bread maker. And yesterday I brought two £50 bags of flour to my trainer and I made up a baker’s workout and I’m doing a sled drag with King Arthur, £50, but like, I’m doing stupid shit like this and I’m nowhere near as successful as you.

00;19;23;25 – 00;19;57;27
Jim Serpico
By the way, as an influencer, I am not. But the tone that I’m going for is to try to bring humor so that both sides of the coin with politics would laugh at it. You know, there’s like, I just heard another podcast that that studied one hit wonders in music and had them on and also had the scientists and professors at all these colleges and and a lot of food authors as well suffer from writing these books and the audience knows them and wants this certain value that they got out of them.

00;19;58;08 – 00;20;04;15
Jim Serpico
And when they flipped to this other thing that they feel passionate about, the audience doesn’t necessarily come with them. It’s an interesting topic.

00;20;04;24 – 00;20;24;04
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Abso no, absolutely. You see that all the time, probably to the detriment as you’re as as you said to these people. But I mean, listen, I always say that, like, if you come to my account, you’re seeing food. Listen, I post 10,000 times about food. Sometimes they say other things and it’s okay If you want to skip over that, skip over that.

00;20;24;08 – 00;20;41;16
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, to me, it’s like the people who get upset about the one story post a month that is deemed political. I also don’t think I say things that are that crazy, to be honest. I pick a pretty I’m not middle, but you know, I mean I’m like listen if you don’t like that, that’s that’s sort of cool and I have no problem with you and hope you’re no problem with me.

00;20;41;16 – 00;20;48;14
Jeremy Jacobowitz
But it seems I’m I’m still giving you all the content you love. I never I didn’t take away any of that. I just throw some extra stuff in there and, you know, whatever.

00;20;49;01 – 00;20;55;22
Jim Serpico
Would you go out to lunch with George Santos right now and and do a feature with him? I mean, that’s something that.

00;20;55;27 – 00;20;56;16
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Just see.

00;20;57;20 – 00;20;58;11
Jim Serpico
What side I.

00;20;58;17 – 00;21;09;07
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Don’t think he’s going to like. I don’t think he’s going to like the conversation. But sure, I’ll have lunch with him to see want to have lunch with me. I think is the better question. I think he doesn’t want to watch me now.

00;21;09;08 – 00;21;14;02
Jim Serpico
All bullshit aside, you met the president of the United States, right?

00;21;14;02 – 00;21;21;26
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I did. Which is probably the craziest thing that’s happened to me because of Instagram.

00;21;22;14 – 00;21;27;22
Jim Serpico
Right? It’s not like you happen to meet him. Like, No, this one is here. They called you in.

00;21;28;01 – 00;21;50;10
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I heard he wanted to, but he’s so. You know. So this is for my understanding, this administration is the first time has like a full social media team. So I had actually worked with his election team throughout the campaign. Just little things like now on an official basis, just like when we have something coming out business himself, if you want to post some soft post, they don’t don’t.

00;21;50;10 – 00;22;04;29
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It’s very unofficial. So anyway, when he got elected, I ended up just knowing the people that ended up working for a social team because they were hired through other channels that I knew of them. And they just said to me like, Hey, if there’s ever an opportunity, do something with them. Like, would you want to be into it?

00;22;04;29 – 00;22;20;09
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Because we’re really trying to bring social media out to get his message out, which they’ve been crazy successful. Like there’s been people a billion times bigger than me that they’ve been able to bring into the White House and do things with me. Anyway. I’m supposed to have this event in New York and they just said, Do you want to come meet him?

00;22;20;09 – 00;22;25;15
Jeremy Jacobowitz
You got to take a photo, you get to shake his hand, you get to ask him a question if he wants. And and and that’s they.

00;22;25;15 – 00;22;26;06
Jim Serpico
Don’t want to meet him.

00;22;26;15 – 00;22;42;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
They’re really nuts. And it was crazy. I mean, the vetting process, I mean, you go through like full background checks, fall everything, a million COVID tests and mass and everything. I mean, you know, none of it’s shocking, but it was it was just a still like a crazy experience.

00;22;42;21 – 00;23;08;28
Jim Serpico
So when I was working with Marc Maron between seasons, Obama went to his garage to do his podcast, and they had a meet with the neighbors. They had they had guys with rifles on the roofs of nearby houses. I mean, the whole the process of getting this guy there was insane. And but he actually showed up and sat in his garage and it was mind blowing.

00;23;09;15 – 00;23;26;10
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, the funniest is I thought about like so they told me at the morning before he does anything is like debriefed on every part of the day. Every person he’s going to interact with is all fully coordinated and everything. So like that morning they had just like killed some dude, I don’t know, like some major like, like army thing.

00;23;26;10 – 00;23;51;01
Jeremy Jacobowitz
They like, took our business that night. And so I just imagine, like this meeting, like starting out, like, okay, like, Mr. President, we’ve like, executed this thing and like, great success. They’re like, going through like our, like, you know, real issues in the world and fighting like, okay, so you’re going to be eating. Jeremy Jacoby It’s he runs a brunch food account like I just like the difference in tone in that in that meeting having to go from like real issues to having to meet me is I still find so funny.

00;23;51;01 – 00;24;12;02
Jim Serpico
That’s pretty wild. So I was studying some of your videos. I was looking specifically to highlight one on YouTube, the Montreal all video, which was very cool, highlighted a lot of great places. But I’m also getting back to production now because it doesn’t, it seems to me like you could have shot a lot of that alone.

00;24;12;02 – 00;24;13;24
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I did shoot. I shot all of it alone.

00;24;14;07 – 00;24;15;00
Jim Serpico
That’s what I thought.

00;24;16;03 – 00;24;27;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
The only thing I didn’t shoot is probably the B-roll, which I just pay for. I use to shoot on my own beer on only cities. And then I’m like, I would take a day and shoot the beer like I did on TV. And I’m like, I don’t need to be shooting my own B-roll anymore. I just use like story blocks or whatever.

00;24;27;21 – 00;24;30;16
Jeremy Jacobowitz
But everything else is me on my own filming.

00;24;30;16 – 00;24;48;09
Jim Serpico
You know, because I look at it with that eye as if because I’m doing the same thing, I’m really not going out of pocket that much. I’m trying to like, build it into my schedule to go to these places. And because sometimes I’ll bring my bread to these places and they’ll make food on it and I’m shooting it by myself.

00;24;48;20 – 00;25;05;19
Jim Serpico
So when I see someone like you who’s so successful at it, I’m looking at it and I’m like, All right, he’s got a little tripod on the table here. He’s shooting his own B-roll here. That’s that. It may have been a DSLR arm, may have been a phone. I mean, something you could see the depth of field, but some of it you can’t see.

00;25;05;28 – 00;25;26;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
That video probably would have been all my my legit camera. I’m trying. I’m honestly trying to get better at just using my phone in certain circumstances just because it’s so much easier on my gear. But at the same time, I like I like shooting on my camera. I like editing the footage for my camera. I like the way it looks, like the way it sounds.

00;25;26;21 – 00;25;46;23
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It makes me happy in some situations and crowded restaurants, I find it like having a big old camera and tripod is not conducive. I think it annoys everyone else and doesn’t really get that takes away from me on camera then. But I would say the contents like 75% full, my legit camera whole set up and then 25% is shot on my phone.

00;25;47;04 – 00;26;09;10
Jim Serpico
Yeah, the sound is the biggest issue. I mean, I’m sure you know. Yeah, as do I. Plenty of food guys that only do phone and the phones shoot some pretty damn good video right now. Yes. And you bring your your your LSD. Why These guys usually have someone with them all done it for the lighting part, but it looks good.

00;26;09;10 – 00;26;16;05
Jim Serpico
That sounds problematic. But, you know, you could bring a little portable something sound pack.

00;26;16;21 – 00;26;24;14
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, I use the road wireless goes you could just as easily just record straight into there you can plug that into your phone’s here. I mean there’s there’s a ton of options.

00;26;25;03 – 00;26;32;03
Jim Serpico
Yeah. So you travel. How do you pick the cities? Like, I want to go on adventure. I know there’s good food stuff or.

00;26;32;28 – 00;26;49;11
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah, that’s sort of it. I mean, I would say my travels like half sponsored, half me on my own. And in both cases, really, it’s just like, am I interesting going there? So like, what I’ll do is like on Instagram because like, you know, save posts, I folder seeds of like every city. So just in case I ends up there, I have like a million restaurants I want to go to.

00;26;49;26 – 00;27;01;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, I was just in L.A., I go to L.A. a ton. I love it. I’m always in Chicago. Miami sort of sort of go tos. And then, yeah, just sort of like so I have timed what if you want to go to a place like Montreal was just say, I want to go to Montreal. Cool. Let’s pick a weekend.

00;27;01;25 – 00;27;13;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
There’s actually two first. That was already almost two years ago. That’s like the first week Canada was open back up to Americans after COVID. So it was an odd experience had in there. But yeah, that’s that’s just what I want to do.

00;27;14;07 – 00;27;19;22
Jim Serpico
And you advance it yourself. You call the restaurant. I’m Jeremy from Brunch Boys. I’m going to be coming in.

00;27;20;10 – 00;27;32;02
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah. I mean, what I what I would say is, like, the easiest way to tell when I’ve told the restaurant if I’m there, not as if I’m in the kitchen. If I’m in the kitchen. Clearly, I’ve set that up. If I’m not in the kitchen, I’ve just sort of shown up and just did my thing. Yeah, I’ll just.

00;27;32;07 – 00;27;42;28
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I’ll just honestly, it’s the I’m them. Hey, I’m coming to town, but love to shoot a video to guys. What do you think? And then I’m sure they look on my page, I see what I do and then we get to logistics from there.

00;27;43;18 – 00;27;45;11
Jim Serpico
Let’s explain to the audience.

00;27;45;11 – 00;27;46;05
Jeremy Jacobowitz
You, you.

00;27;46;12 – 00;27;49;22
Jim Serpico
You casually mentioned half of my stuff is sponsored.

00;27;50;09 – 00;27;51;28
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Um, the travel. Yeah.

00;27;52;10 – 00;27;58;06
Jim Serpico
So, So you have an agent in the branding space, I would assume.

00;27;58;06 – 00;28;17;08
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Not really. Like I have a manager that’s in-house and for the most part we don’t really do outreach. We sort of just handle incoming. I always say like the outreach. I do is networking. I go to events, I meet people. The PR people are who are basically need to meet with, get to know them. But I very rarely I don’t really pitch brands.

00;28;17;08 – 00;28;36;06
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I don’t really even pitch myself for a specific idea at that point because I’ve just found that, like brands will have budgets for what they come up with, not for you come up with. So it’s better for me to pitch myself, let them know who I am, let them know what I do, get to know them. I’m on a personal level, and then maybe some point they’ll come back to me or they’ll tell someone else about them.

00;28;36;06 – 00;28;38;12
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And it’s all it’s a much smaller world than you think.

00;28;39;03 – 00;28;48;24
Jim Serpico
So when you say it’s sponsored these trips, are you saying are they paying you money to go there? Are they buying your airline tickets?

00;28;49;05 – 00;29;09;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It all depends and it depends on like how much you want to go there and what the asks are like. I would say sometimes, yeah, it’s just like a tourism board. And they’re like, Hey, we want you to come out. We’ll give you a couple days hotel, we’ll fly out here. It’s not that big of an ask. As long as you tagged us in some stuff, we just want you to get the story out about our town.

00;29;09;00 – 00;29;29;27
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Okay? That’s relatively easy. It’s not a lot of work. And then. And then. Yeah, some of it’s paid. Like I. I went to Japan a few years ago, and that was with All Nippon Airways. So that was, Hey, we’re going to give this free trip to Japan. We’re going to pay you, but you’re going to produce 18 videos, you’re going to give us 100 photos use we’re going to use all your assets in this stuff.

00;29;29;27 – 00;29;44;15
Jeremy Jacobowitz
We’re going to ask you to do this and be part of this. And you remember, like the work stacked up where like, yes, it’s always amazing to have a free trip. But, you know, when we this is I have a manager to negotiate like, okay, well, where else can we add value for you? Or then maybe, you know, Jeremy could get paid as well.

00;29;45;03 – 00;29;46;17
Jim Serpico
Yeah. I mean, that’s a lot of work.

00;29;47;16 – 00;29;47;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yes.

00;29;48;28 – 00;29;56;19
Jim Serpico
That’s a lot of work. I’m often in L.A. as well and I’m about to go. What do we got? What’s our top places in L.A.?

00;29;57;25 – 00;29;59;01
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So just a.

00;29;59;24 – 00;30;03;14
Jim Serpico
Casual I was saying like. Like not the really fancy, fancy dinner.

00;30;03;14 – 00;30;23;14
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I don’t do fancy these places are all very trendy. I went there, but I would never say fancy. Yeah, I went to a Pizza Palace, which is technically a sports bar, but it’s all Indian fusion, so it’s like Indian mix of Italian mix, a sports bar, food in a sports bar, but like very trendy. So like people on dates there, it’s like it’s a hotspot.

00;30;23;20 – 00;30;24;23
Jim Serpico
What part of town is that?

00;30;25;20 – 00;30;40;13
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Silverlake. Oh, is that. I’m going to I’m going to tell you right now, every place I can tell you I love. Even I stayed in Venice last time I made the mistake of booking. I booked every dinner on the side and sat in traffic for 2 hours every day.

00;30;41;10 – 00;30;52;09
Jim Serpico
I stayed in Silverlake for three months. I loved it. I love that area. I love that I love Los Feliz. I love everything out on the East side. I really do.

00;30;53;08 – 00;31;09;05
Jeremy Jacobowitz
It’s exciting. And the food scene, I love the foods in L.A. Like I always say to like New York, New York City is always going to be the best. But I think that, like, the way I like to eat is on a personal level. I actually think I enjoy L.A. a little bit more and L.A. just huge. So, I mean, there’s a million more options out there to Excel is gigantic.

00;31;09;05 – 00;31;14;01
Jim Serpico
But then I also love the food scene. So what else do we have in L.A.?

00;31;14;24 – 00;31;36;05
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I went to Yongbyon, which is downtown L.A. so that’s like Korean fusion again, like pretty casual space, like it’s a store during the day in a market during the afternoon, and then a restaurant at night. Really, really interesting, great food. And then it went back to Bevel, which I like my favorite movie of last year probably. So my favorite meal this year, it’s like Middle Eastern Mediterranean for the best.

00;31;36;05 – 00;31;39;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
The team just like fantastic. And again, that’s and that’s downtown also.

00;31;39;15 – 00;31;52;12
Jim Serpico
Okay, I’m going to try to check at least one of those places that I go there. What about in life, one of your most memorable meals? Why was it so memorable and who was it with?

00;31;53;00 – 00;32;13;11
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah, I mean, honestly, everything I had in Japan I think, like, was so interesting to me about Japan. I could go on and on. Is that just everything I ate there was like the best of that thing I’ve ever had. And I think that like even I was getting samples, like it’s easy to think about like sushi in Japan, but like I was there for three weeks and I probably had sushi three times just because everything they do is incredible.

00;32;14;12 – 00;32;36;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So the best pizza I’ve ever had was in Japan. And I think that like, come on, his thing. But, but you say that which is what everyone’s eventually going to talk about. But pizza is very scientific and very exact, and that’s sort of like the approach of the Japanese to food is that way too. So they’re like, if we’re going to make pizza, we are going to perfect it.

00;32;36;00 – 00;32;53;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So the Tokyo saw pizza is is basically like someone’s it’s like 30 years ago. It’s like, oh shit, this is amazing. And how do we recreate this? So like, learns every little less of it to recreate, just like, like I would say it’s much more Italian than even New York City Pizza is. And the difference is it’s like wood fired.

00;32;53;29 – 00;33;17;09
Jeremy Jacobowitz
They put a ton of olive oil and like a lot of salt. And the crust is just like, unbelievable. So that was amazing. But even just like go into the 7-Eleven to get like a tuna sandwich for an exiled sounds like every morning for breakfast was like, incredible. And like there’s convenience stores in every corner. But even if it’s a sandwich that’s like a dollar 50, they’re putting like the time, effort and care into it as if it’s a meal that’s $500.

00;33;17;15 – 00;33;20;17
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So it’s just across the board. Everything was incredible.

00;33;20;17 – 00;33;26;15
Jim Serpico
That’s part of their culture and that’s what they’re not going to just rush out a sandwich to make $0.50.

00;33;27;00 – 00;33;27;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Exactly.

00;33;28;21 – 00;33;38;01
Jim Serpico
Yeah, that sounds pretty amazing. I would love to check that out. I talk about pizza a lot and I talked to a lot of pizza makers and I’m into the science and I know.

00;33;38;01 – 00;33;44;17
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Very scientific like the temperature, the moisture in the air, the everything. It’s all very scientific.

00;33;44;25 – 00;34;00;11
Jim Serpico
Right? I mean, there’s this whole New York myth that it’s it’s the water and I’ve talked about it ad nauseum with some of my guess. And people are not going to like to hear it because they believe this all along. But it is not the water, it is the science. And you can make good pizza in Japan and North Carolina.

00;34;00;11 – 00;34;03;15
Jim Serpico
I just say Japan to all because I haven’t heard about it.

00;34;03;26 – 00;34;22;27
Jeremy Jacobowitz
But there’s a couple of like I believe, very meatless. I mean, I always find it funny, like I’ve had pizza all over. I think that like I’ve had incredible pizza literally all over the world. It’s bagels that no one else can get. Right. But like, you know, I was in Argentina and they have such a huge Italian population, they sort of like, you know, develop their own Argentinian pizza.

00;34;23;05 – 00;34;40;08
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And it’s incredible. I mean, listen, even that pizza, I think, is good. I’m sort of like on that level. So I think that you could find it everywhere. But bagels are the one thing that, like I still well, now is the thing. And my their style is now developing their style. But I try and can be done every time.

00;34;40;21 – 00;34;59;11
Jim Serpico
I’ve talked to a lot of a lot of bread guys, a lot of it has to do with the equipment, the procedure. They’re buying new equipment to mass produce these bagels that are not hand rolled. You don’t have the training, but it can be done. Yeah, I know Bagel Boss is franchising around and it’s still Bagel Boss Bagels.

00;34;59;11 – 00;35;00;09
Jim Serpico
Now, if you’re familiar with.

00;35;00;10 – 00;35;00;22
Jeremy Jacobowitz
That, you know.

00;35;01;02 – 00;35;15;00
Jim Serpico
You know Island And speaking of pizza, my first guest on this podcast, this is episode number 44, but my first guest was Dan Richer of Raza. Hmm. And I just saw you posted from there.

00;35;15;06 – 00;35;16;08
Jeremy Jacobowitz
They posted about it tonight.

00;35;16;23 – 00;35;20;05
Jim Serpico
And I wasn’t.

00;35;20;05 – 00;35;43;29
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I loved it. I just think that, like, you know, you could tell like, it just from the, you know, the bread and butter that you get like, oh, they care about every single time. I mean, they make their own different multiple butters. It’s like, all right, they care the extra mile. And like, you could tell that the ingredients, the flavors and the taste and like everything about it like you get why it’s so hyped and and why it’s so good.

00;35;44;05 – 00;36;08;16
Jim Serpico
He studies every aspect of it and he he gives the information away. I don’t know if you have a copy of his book, The Joy of Pizza, but he poured his life into this book and every process. It’s a book for beginners and experts. And he I mean, if you guys live in the tri state area and you could get yourself to Jersey City, make yourself a reservation because you can’t really just walk in anymore.

00;36;08;16 – 00;36;11;20
Jim Serpico
Go check out Razza on brand like that.

00;36;11;20 – 00;36;23;00
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Pizza’s great. Maybe like, I mean, the meatballs are unbelievable. The the panna cotta was just like, crazy. Like, everything I ate there was like, Oh, this is absolutely incredible. I get it.

00;36;23;17 – 00;36;40;04
Jim Serpico
That’s cool. So where do you go from here? And I’m also believing you don’t have to know. You just enjoy the ride, see where things take you. But you know, you’ve evolved with social media. It keeps changing. You have any thoughts about the future?

00;36;41;01 – 00;36;55;09
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yeah. I mean, to me, like, I definitely love what I do and I want to try and do this as long as possible. But I also understand there’s a shelf life to everything. I don’t know how long can I do this and how long do I want to do this? And, and, you know, always looking at other opportunities.

00;36;55;09 – 00;37;06;06
Jeremy Jacobowitz
So just in the past, like year to year, maybe I’ve taken on other projects for the first time ever, ten years without any outside I project, mostly because I just didn’t have any time or watching like.

00;37;06;06 – 00;37;07;02
Jim Serpico
A production company.

00;37;07;02 – 00;37;25;25
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Would write. Exactly. So like I got hired, I just had these opportunities. Like these are really cool opportunities for me to do and produce content for other people. Direct for other people. So like slowly but surely, like a couple of those projects, just it feels right at the time. It’s a cool opportunity. The money is right. I’ve taken those opportunities.

00;37;26;04 – 00;37;43;08
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I’ve been looking to get into the film Worlds a little bit just because I just think it’s exciting and cool and while it’s sort of I sort of a background of production and TV and creating and it’s there, it’s something that’s brand new to me and it’s just like exciting thing to dig in.

00;37;43;08 – 00;37;47;02
Jim Serpico
What does that mean? I mean, you want to what about that? You want to produce movies?

00;37;47;13 – 00;37;49;28
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Yes, I’m currently producing films.

00;37;50;23 – 00;38;24;08
Jim Serpico
Hey. All right. Good luck. Now. Of course, it’s great. It’s the movie business is in transition. But again, it all comes from like the passion, everything we do. If you could wake up in the morning, I would do it. Also, I’m more in the TV thing and I’m still pitching comedies in the scripted world, but I also wake up in the morning and have the passion to translate some of the food stuff I’m doing and having conversations with networks about that.

00;38;24;17 – 00;38;28;00
Jim Serpico
Yeah, chronically is way less money than the other stuff.

00;38;29;01 – 00;38;44;17
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I mean, what I what I’ve been sort of relating to is like when I worked in TV, my favorite part was casting. And even now I think like the joy of what I do is being able to tell people stories that their food really, you know, going around, even if the video. Yes, on the surface, me just stuffing pizza down my gullet.

00;38;45;00 – 00;38;55;26
Jeremy Jacobowitz
I’m telling the story of this restaurant and getting their story out there. And I think what I’ve really loved about the film stuff so far is it’s all very, very small project stuff probably no one will ever see. That’s totally fine with me.

00;38;56;03 – 00;39;02;28
Jim Serpico
Okay. So you’re talking about like an independent that you can put in to Sundance or a film festival. Nice.

00;39;02;28 – 00;39;18;16
Jeremy Jacobowitz
And it’s just like that’s first of all, that’s just I think that’s, that’s the way in. But to I just think it’s like that’s exciting part for me. It’s like finding these really talented people and that have a story to tell and want to get their vision out there maybe. And like, Great, what can I do to help you achieve that?

00;39;18;17 – 00;39;27;03
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Like, that’s really exciting to me. So I think that’s what’s mostly excited about this is like going back to what I always loved, which is finding talent, finding people’s stories and helping them achieve that.

00;39;27;25 – 00;39;49;27
Jim Serpico
Now I think you can do it, man. I’m excited by that. I love this conversation. I appreciate you sitting down with me. I like all the stuff you’re doing. I’m going to take some of the lessons I had by studying your stuff and continue to shoot my own stuff. But I like how you’re shooting it, so I’m going to do a little lab myself in my tone, you know, and we’ll see what happens with that.

00;39;50;04 – 00;39;56;05
Jeremy Jacobowitz
That’s the secret. That’s the key. Always your tone. Never learn from other people, but don’t copy other people’s what I would say.

00;39;56;15 – 00;40;02;20
Jim Serpico
Exactly. All right, man, it’s really been a pleasure getting to talk to you. And I look forward to seeing whatever you have going down the pipe.

00;40;03;17 – 00;40;04;21
Jeremy Jacobowitz
Thank you. Thank you. Good. So.

00;40;05;02 – 00;40;26;28
Jim Serpico
All right. This episode of Bread for the People was brought to you by Side Hustle Bread, Long Island’s hand-crafted artisanal bread company side. Hustle Bread is a family run business that’s bringing the neighborhood feel back to Long Island one loaf at a time. If you like what you’re hearing, don’t forget to head on over to iTunes and rate and review this episode.

00;40;26;28 – 00;40;44;24
Jim Serpico
Reviewing and rating is the most effective way to help us grow our audience. This episode was produced by Milestone TV and film. I’m your host, Jim Serpico. Blessed be the bread everyone.